Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (SOR/2021-247)
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Regulations are current to 2024-08-18 and last amended on 2022-01-01. Previous Versions
PART 24Materials Handling (continued)
Marginal note:Personnel transfer
126 (1) Every employer must ensure, with respect to every personnel transfer at, to or from a workplace under its control, that
(a) the loading and landing areas are clear of all obstacles;
(b) the personnel transfer device is raised and lowered, to the extent feasible, over water;
(c) there is continuous communication between both points of transfer;
(d) a fast rescue boat and crew are available nearby and prepared to launch if needed;
(e) each person assigned to plan, manage, participate in or supervise the personnel transfer has been trained or instructed on the procedures applicable to their role in the transfer, including with respect to the use of any equipment;
(f) the personnel transfer device is
(i) non-collapsible,
(ii) made of corrosion-resistant material suitable for use in the environmental conditions in which it is used,
(iii) designed to be buoyant,
(iv) designed to protect the persons being transferred in it from falling and landing impact,
(v) designed to allow persons to ride securely inside of it, either standing or seated,
(vi) large enough to accommodate a person on a medical stretcher and one other person, and
(vii) used only for carriage of persons and, if designed for that purpose, their personal baggage; and
(g) the safety devices referred to in subparagraph 121(1)(a)(ii) with which the crane used to carry out the transfer is equipped include a retention device installed from above the load block to the upper master link of the sling assembly.
Marginal note:Availability of personnel transfer devices
(2) Every employer must ensure that at least two personnel transfer devices that meet the requirements set out in paragraph (1)(f) are available at all times at each workplace under its control that is a marine installation or structure used for drilling or production or as a living accommodation.
Marginal note:Personal protective equipment
(3) The personal protective equipment that every employer must provide to a person who is being transferred by personnel transfer includes either a helicopter passenger transportation suit system that conforms to the Airworthiness Manual published by the Department of Transport or a properly fitted immersion suit that conforms to paragraph 46(b).
Marginal note:Signalling
127 (1) Every employer must ensure, before any materials handling equipment is used at a workplace under its control, that
(a) all persons at the workplace know the hand signal for “emergency stop”; and
(b) if the equipment is to be used in circumstances that will require the use of a signaller,
(i) a code of hand signals is established, and
(ii) every signaller and every person operating the equipment is instructed in the use of that code.
Marginal note:Emergency stop signal
(2) Every person who operates materials handling equipment at a workplace must obey the signal for “emergency stop” given by any person.
Marginal note:Other means of communication
(3) If it is not feasible for a signaller to use hand signals to communicate to a person operating materials handling equipment, including due to the distance between them, the employer must ensure that
(a) the signaller and the person operating the equipment are provided with a primary and backup telephone, radio or other device that provides the signaller with a continuous means of communicating with the person operating the equipment while the equipment is in use;
(b) any radio codes used by the signaller to communicate with the person operating the equipment are included in the code referred to in paragraph (1)(b); and
(c) if the signalling is to be done by means of a two-way radio system, it is operated on a dedicated radio channel.
Marginal note:Copy of code
(4) The employer must ensure that a copy of the code referred to in paragraph (1)(b) is kept readily available for examination by all persons at the workplace.
Marginal note:Signaller not understood
(5) Any person who does not understand a direction given to them by a signaller must consider it to be a direction to stop.
Marginal note:Inspection
128 (1) The competent person who carries out the thorough safety inspection referred to in subparagraph 87(1)(e)(ii) in respect of materials handling equipment must be independent of the operator and the employer.
Marginal note:Increased frequency
(2) Every employer must ensure, despite subparagraph 87(1)(e)(ii), that
(a) the thorough safety inspection referred to in that subparagraph is also carried out in respect of materials handling equipment
(i) before the equipment is used at the workplace for the first time,
(ii) before it is returned to service after repairs or modifications have been made to its load carrying components, and
(iii) before it is returned to service after being in contact with an electric arc or current; and
(b) all loose lifting gear, personnel transfer devices and safety devices that are used in conjunction with personnel transfer devices are subject to the thorough safety inspection referred to in that subparagraph at least once every six months.
Marginal note:Identification system
(3) The employer must implement, at every workplace under its control, a system that facilitates the identification of materials handling equipment that is due for inspection.
Marginal note:Instruction and training
129 The instruction and training that every employer must provide to an employee who uses materials handling equipment in the course of their work includes instruction and training on the effects of environmental conditions on the equipment’s safe and proper use.
PART 25Confined Spaces
Marginal note:Evaluation
130 (1) The risks to which a person in a confined space is exposed are prescribed risks for the purpose of paragraph 205.02(2)(a) of the Act and every employer must ensure that, before any work begins at a workplace under its control, a competent person evaluates the workplace and makes a record of all confined spaces in it.
Marginal note:Re-evaluation
(2) The employer must ensure that each workplace is re-evaluated by a competent person at least once every three years, as well as on the creation or elimination of a confined space, and that the competent person records any changes in respect of the confined spaces at the workplace from the last evaluation.
Marginal note:Identification
(3) Every employer must ensure that each confined space at a workplace under its control, other than a confined space that has been made inaccessible with bolted blind flanges, is visibly identified at each point of access as
(a) being a confined space;
(b) being a space to which access is restricted to authorized persons; and
(c) containing a danger.
Marginal note:Occupational health and safety program
131 Every occupational health and safety program must, with respect to the various confined spaces at the workplace and the types of work that could be carried out in them,
(a) identify the personal protective equipment that is to be used or worn by employees in the confined space;
(b) set out measures to be taken to prevent the entanglement of lifelines and other equipment used by employees in the confined space;
(c) identify the atmospheric hazards that may be present in the confined space and the equipment to be used for atmospheric testing and monitoring in the confined space;
(d) address the calibration and testing of the equipment referred to in paragraph (c) and the appropriate frequency of atmospheric testing;
(e) set out a plan for responding to emergencies in the confined space that, among other things,
(i) identifies the situations that would trigger emergency response procedures,
(ii) identifies the equipment, including personal protective equipment, to be used or worn in carrying out those procedures,
(iii) sets out procedures for ensuring the immediate evacuation of the confined space when an alarm is activated or if there is any potentially hazardous change in the atmospheric concentration of a hazardous substance, oxygen or another flammable, explosive or combustible substance, and
(iv) sets out procedures for retrieving persons from the confined space, including alternate procedures that will ensure they can be retrieved safely if an obstruction or other condition makes the use of certain retrieval procedures or equipment unsafe for them or for those carrying out the retrieval;
(f) identify the means by which persons inside and outside the confined space are to communicate among themselves, including in an emergency;
(g) identify all resources necessary for ensuring the health and safety of employees in the confined space, including by setting out the manner of determining the number of attendants whose presence is necessary at the confined space;
(h) set out the manner in which persons designated under paragraph 133(1)(i) are to be notified of the time and location at which their assistance might be required; and
(i) provide for the regular conduct of emergency response drills and exercises.
Marginal note:Work permit
132 (1) A work permit is required for any occupation of a confined space at a workplace.
Marginal note:Additional contents
(2) In addition to the information that is required to be set out in a work permit under subsection 53(1), the following information must be included in a work permit for the occupation of a confined space:
(a) the method of entering and exiting the confined space;
(b) the escape route from the confined space, which, if persons are required to use a self-contained breathing apparatus or airline respirator, must allow for escape before the air supply is expected to be exhausted; and
(c) a record of all persons signing in and out of the confined space.
Marginal note:Validity
(3) A work permit for the occupation of a confined space ceases to be valid 12 hours after the most recent testing conducted under subsection 134(2).
Marginal note:Posting and updating
(4) The employer must ensure that a copy of the work permit is posted at every entrance to the confined space for the duration of its occupation and is updated as new information referred to in paragraph (2)(c) or paragraph 53(1)(i) becomes available.
Marginal note:Entry and occupation requirements
133 (1) Every employer must ensure that no person enters or remains in a confined space at a workplace under its control unless
(a) the person is knowledgeable about the provisions of the occupational health and safety program that pertain to confined spaces;
(b) the person is wearing a full body harness to facilitate their retrieval or, if wearing the harness would pose a greater risk to them than not wearing one, measures are in place to ensure that the person can be retrieved safely in accordance with the alternate procedures referred to in subparagraph 131(e)(iv);
(c) the opening to be used for entry into and exit from the confined space is sufficiently large to allow safe passage of persons wearing personal protective equipment;
(d) any mechanical and electrical equipment that is in the confined space but not required to carry out any work there is
(i) disconnected from its energy source, and
(ii) isolated, locked out and tagged in accordance with Part 27;
(e) all sources of ignition are eliminated, if a flammable, explosive or combustible substance is present in the confined space;
(f) any liquid in which a person may drown or free-flowing solid in which a person may become entrapped has been removed from the confined space;
(g) engineering controls are in place to prevent any inadvertent discharge from any source, including a pipe or other supply line, that may be hazardous to the health or safety of any person in the confined space;
(h) measures have been taken to ensure that, if an atmospheric hazard arises while the confined space is occupied, the confined space will be continuously ventilated;
(i) persons have been designated to respond to any emergency that may arise in the confined space and have been notified of the time and location at which their assistance may be required;
(j) sufficient equipment referred to in paragraph 131(a) and subparagraph 131(e)(ii) is provided as close as feasible to the entrance to the confined space for use by the persons referred to in paragraph (i); and
(k) a drill has been completed simulating an emergency rescue from the confined space.
Marginal note:Isolation of piping
(2) The engineering controls referred to in paragraph (1)(g) must, with respect to a pipe containing a hazardous substance or a substance under pressure or at a high temperature, consist of a blank or blind in conjunction with valves or other blocking seals that are secured in the closed position — using a positive mechanical device that is designed to resist being opened inadvertently, other than as a result of excessive force — to prevent the substance from reaching the blank or blind. The employer must ensure that the pipe is clearly marked to indicate the location of the blank or blind and that the valves or seals are clearly marked as being closed.
Marginal note:Unauthorized entry
(3) The employer must ensure that adequate barriers are erected to prevent unauthorized entry to the confined space.
Marginal note:Sign in and out
(4) Every employer must ensure that every person entering and exiting a confined space signs in and out.
Marginal note:Atmosphere
134 (1) Every employer must ensure, if feasible, in respect of every occupied confined space at a workplace under its control — and every area whose atmosphere may be affected by, or may affect, the atmosphere in an occupied confined space — that
(a) no person’s exposure to a hazardous substance in the atmosphere exceeds the threshold limit value for that substance, as adjusted if necessary to reflect the length of time the person is in the confined space or area, or the biological exposure index for that substance, without regard to any protection that may be afforded to the person through the use of personal protective equipment;
(b) the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere is not less than 19.5% and not more than 22.5%; and
(c) the concentration of any other flammable, explosive or combustible substance in the atmosphere is less than 10% of its lower explosive limit.
Marginal note:Testing
(2) The employer must ensure that a competent person conducts atmospheric testing, and records the results, at times and frequencies appropriate to the hazards in the atmosphere, including
(a) before each time the confined space becomes occupied, unless the atmosphere in the space was, while the space was unoccupied, continuously monitored for any accumulation of contaminants that could pose an immediate threat to life or that could interfere with a person’s ability to escape unaided from the space and that monitoring shows no irregularities;
(b) after any change in the work or to the confined space that may affect its atmosphere; and
(c) in any case, no less frequently than every 12 hours while the confined space remains occupied.
Marginal note:Testing from outside
(3) The employer must ensure that the competent person does not enter the confined space to carry out testing unless they have first carried out preliminary testing of its atmosphere from outside the space.
Marginal note:Continuous monitoring
(4) In addition to the testing required under subsection (2), the employer must ensure that the atmosphere in the confined space is continuously monitored for any accumulation of contaminants that could pose an immediate threat to life or that could interfere with a person’s ability to escape unaided from the confined space and must ensure that all persons in the space are alerted to any such an accumulation with sufficient warning to be able to exit the space safely.
Marginal note:Lifeline
(5) If it is not feasible to comply with subsection (1), the employer must ensure that every person in the confined space who wears a full body harness in accordance with paragraph 133(1)(b) has securely attached to it a lifeline that is secured outside the confined space and is monitored and controlled by an attendant, unless the risk of using the lifeline would pose a greater risk to the person than not using it.
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